What is an WAF in terms of cybersecurity?

WAF stands for Web Application Firewall, which is a security tool designed to protect web applications from a variety of cyber attacks, such as SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), and other common web application vulnerabilities.

A WAF is typically implemented as a hardware or software device that is placed between a web application and the internet, intercepting and analyzing incoming traffic to identify and block malicious requests. This is achieved by analyzing HTTP/HTTPS traffic, inspecting the contents of requests and responses, and applying a set of pre-defined security rules to determine whether the traffic is legitimate or not.

A WAF can also provide other security features such as SSL/TLS termination and encryption, content filtering, and access control to further enhance web application security. It can also generate logs and alerts to notify system administrators of potential security threats.

Overall, a WAF is an important tool for protecting web applications against a wide range of cyber threats, and is especially important for organizations that rely heavily on web applications for their business operations.